Moche, Perú Terracotta Skull shaped bowl. 200 - 600 AD. 13 cm Height. TL Tested. Spanish Import License.

Huaco with bat-shaped deity.

Moche, Perú, 200 - 600 AD.

Terracotta.

Height 13 cm.

CONDITION: Good condition. Without restorations, it presents superficial wear in part of the polychrome.

PROVENANCE: Private collection, Paris, France. 1960 – 1970.

DOCUMENTATION: Spanish Import license included.

DESCRIPTION:

Bowl made of clay in the shape of a human skull, probably representing a supernatural character given the expressiveness of the face. The large eye sockets are not empty, but house two round eyes that protrude with a slight relief; also the nose, although thin and flat, brings a certain aspect of life to the representation. The rest of the features reveal the advance of death: the mouth, very open and with well differentiated teeth, projects towards the front, and the ears are two simple orifices, worked in relief. The jaw has also been highlighted by reproducing the shape of the bone, with a stepped profile. The result is a representation halfway between the world of the living and the dead, whose supernatural character is accentuated by the polychrome, with motifs brushed in an orange-red pigment on the white engobe base. In addition to the outlines of the facial features, there are S-shaped brackets arranged in an orderly fashion around the face, even occupying the inside of the mouth and the eye sockets. The back of the head, on the other hand, is decorated with two bands of vertical bands, differentiating the nape of the neck from the crown.

Within Mochica ceramics, this type of representation of skeletal characters is common, whose symbolic meaning alludes to the interrelationship between life and death, to their complementary nature. It has also been suggested that these animated figures of the dead could represent a state of transition between life and death; in fact, on numerous occasions these skeletal figures are represented in everyday scenes, even having sexual relations. These images could also be related to the various types of ritual death of the Mochica culture, which included the fleshing and subsequent exposure of the remains of sacrificial victims or ritual punishment. In fact, such practices are often illustrated in detail on Mochica ceramics.

Settled on the northern coast of Peru, the Moche culture developed in the valleys of Lambayeque, Chicama, Moche and Viru, between the first and eighth centuries AD. At its peak, the culture was organized into two independent states, which controlled the northern and southern regions and shared the same highly hierarchical social structure, dominated by a warrior caste. At the base of the social pyramid were slaves, prisoners of war who were often sacrificed in honor of the deities.

Within the Mochica art, their exquisite pottery was especially outstanding, which evidences a very high technical and artistic mastery. There were several specialized ceramic workshops that worked with molds to obtain a serial production. The Mochica vases show a wide variety of typologies, among which the plastic vases worked as round sculptures stand out, representing all kinds of scenes and characters from daily life, the supernatural world and the ritual context, and even offer portraits of prominent figures of the society.

BIBLIOGRAPHY:

- CASTILLO, L.J. La ceremonia del sacrificio, batallas y muerte en el arte mochica. Museo Arqueológico Rafael Larco Herrera. 2000.
- DONNAN, C. Moche Art of Peru. Pre-Columbian Symbolic Communication. University of California Press. 1978.
- SAWYER, A.R. Ancient Peruvian Ceramics: the Nathan Cummings Collection. The Metropolitan Museum of Art. 1966.

PARALLELS: Fig. 1 Stirrup huaco in the shape of a skull. Moche, north coast of Peru, s. II-V AD, polychrome ceramic. Chicago Art Institute (USA), inv. 1958.566.




Notes:

- The piece includes authenticity certificate.
- The piece includes Spanish Export License (Passport for European Union) - If the piece is destined outside the European Union a substitution of the export permit should be requested, can take between 1-2 weeks maximum.
- The seller guarantees that he acquired this piece according to all national and international laws related to the ownership of cultural property. Provenance statement seen by Catawiki.